Pop culture shapes our thoughts, feelings, understanding and relationship with science. From movie and TV shows to books, comics, street art and beyond, pop culture has a profound impact on how we perceive, engage with, and even participate in scientific exploration. Pop culture also shapes the cultural meanings of science. Investigating the cultural meanings of science in pop cultural contexts means clarifying how pop cultural narratives about science have affected the public discourse and understanding of science – and thus our science-society relationship.

The upcoming “Science goes Pop” workshop will bring together researchers, and PhD students interested in pop culture studies as well as science communication and knowledge transfer from several continents to explore how the two areas can support and advance each other. It particularly seeks to understand the potential, pitfalls and promises of pop culture to convey meanings of science and to engage audiences with research that may otherwise not be reached by conventional means of science communication.

Join us on 18 November 2024 at the Erich Auerbach Institute for Advanced Studies for a lively discussion on these and related topics, and hear from our international guests on how they see and work at the intersection of science communication and pop culture. The workshop is designed as a networking event with plenty of time for your questions and thoughts – and as a first step towards further cross-institutional collaboration in this space.

If you are interested in participating in this event, please send a paragraph stating your experience and motivation together with a short bio note to science-goes-pop@uni-koeln.de by October 10. Participation in the workshop is free but participants are asked to cover their own travel and accommodation.  We will start at 9.30am and finish at 3.30pm. Light snacks will be provided.

This workshop is supported by AlumNode.